Overcome

If you read my blog a few days ago about being mandated to write, it was in reference to what you're about to read. Pastor David asked me to write a monologue of my testimony. I read it during the middle of a song called "Overcome" performed by Desperation Band. Anyway, the song itself is beautiful and it talks about Christ overcoming the grave, and how he has given us the ability to overcome. So this is what I wrote and read in this morning's service. This was my life before God drew a line and declared it no more, and set me free, and my encouragement to the congregation I delivered it to:

"I was self-centered, and arrogant. I was desperate, and lonely. I felt as though I were a captive imprisoned by my own bitterness, and bound by the results of my own selfish choices. I was isolated by the very walls I built for my own protection. I disconnected myself from a world that I was afraid of, a world that had wounded me so deeply, a world that I couldn’t trust. Afraid to try, and afraid to fail, I settled for a life of lifeless ambition. Apathy blinded me from seeing the path that I was walking on. A path of destruction, pride, and anger. The depth of my insecurities was immeasurable. Often I reached out towards greed and lust for satisfaction. I was broken, and had no appetite for life.

And then, something happened in me, causing there to be a line drawn between my past life and present personality. God stepped in, and helped me overcome the obstacles around me. Though I was lost, and oppressed, God helped me overcome. Even though I was drowning in selfishness, God helped me overcome. And when my insecurity had plummeted to the lowest point in my life, God helped me overcome. And now, those things that I was, I no longer am because God overcame on my behalf setting me free.

Today, perhaps you are in a place where you desire a line drawn in your life defining what is, and what used to be. Maybe you want the broken marriage you have to stop being what is, and to become what used to be. God will help you overcome! If your desire is for depression to stop being what is, and to become what used to be, God will help you overcome! Maybe you find yourself carrying around baggage from the past, and you want the pain to stop being a part of what is, and to bury it with what was, God will help you overcome! If you’re tired and anxious; if you’re empty and searching for purpose; if you can’t meet your budget; if you’re fighting lust; if you’re afraid and insecure; if you’re complacent; if you have no one you can trust; if you are angry and confused; if there’s any part of your life that you want to become history, God will help you overcome!

God doesn’t want us to be victims; he wants us to be victors. He doesn’t want us to grovel; he wants us to grow. He doesn’t want us to sink; he wants us to soar.
Our God doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed; he wants us to overcome!!!"